406 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



TREES IN WINTER. 



Trees to many persons, are attractive only when they are clothed 

 with leaves, and many people whose interest in them is considerable 

 do not notice those peculiarities which make it easy to recognize one 

 tree from another after the leaves have fallen. But to the real lover 

 of trees, they are equally beautiful and interesting at all seasons of the 

 year ; and no one can pretend to know trees well who cannot distin- 

 guish the different species as quickly and as easily in winter as in spring 

 or summer. If trees are considered from an ornamental point of view 

 only, almost every one of them has some special and peculiar beauty 

 which is only displayed in winter. The line spray of the beech is seen 

 only at this season of the year, and there is no more beautiful object 

 in nature than the delicate ramifications of the American beech seen 

 against the clear blue sky of a brilliant winter day. The sturdiness of 

 the oak is only realized in winter, when the knotted strength of its 

 limbs is not disguised under their covering of leaves. The birch is a 

 far more graceful and attractive object in winter than at any other sea- 

 son of the year; and what is there more stimulating to the imagination 

 than to stand on a clear winter's day and look up into the marvelous 

 structure of one of the great elms which, here and there, still grow 

 near some of our northern rivers 1 The bark of all trees appears, at 

 least, more beautiful in winter than at other seasons, because the eye, 

 undisturbed by the contemplation of masses of foliage, can then take 

 in all the details of its varied texture and wonderful colors. 



GARDEN AND LAWN TALKS. 



If one wants a nice lawn there is no better time to begin than the 

 autumn. A great many lawns and door-yards are very uneven and 

 full of hollows, as a result of inattention. Where this is the case it is 

 not necessary to plow the ground unless it is very rough, for a few loads 

 of mold from some convenient spot will often make the whole space 

 level, and very often what can be wheeled on in an hour or two makes 

 a vast improvement. When I came where I now live, the front yard 

 was very uneven and well seeded to weeds. It was too late to do any- 

 thing that season, but in the spring I cut sods from the roadside, and 

 after filling the holes put the sods over. In a month I had a green 

 door-yard free from weeds; and it has continued so since then. 



